Hydraulic ram for wheel lift for wheel truing machine



Nov. 17, 1970 R. J. DECEUSTER ,5

V HYDRAULIC RAM FOR WHEEL LIFT FOR WHEEL TRUINGMACHINE Filed July 2, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTOR I .5? Ra/ph J. Deceus/er ATTORNEY NOV; 1970 R. J. DECEUSTER ,5

HYDRAULIC RAM FOR WHEEL LIFT FOR WHEEL TRUING MACHINE Filed July 2, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet z IN VENTOR Ralph J. Deceusfer ATTORNEY 9 R. J. DECEUSTER HYDRAULIC RAM FOR WHEEL LIFT FOR WHEEL TRUI NG MACHINE Filed July 2, 1968 .4 Sheets-Sheet S INVENTOR Ralph J. Deceus/er ATTORNEY R. J. DECEUSTER Nov. 17, 1970 i HYDRAULIC RAM FOR WHEEL LIFT FOR WHEEL TRUING MACHINE Filed July 2, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

INVENTOR Ralph J. Deceusfer ATTORNEY United States aterit 3,540,164 HYDRAULIC RAM FOR WHEEL LIFT FOR WHEEL TRUING MACHINE Ralph J. Deceuster, Highland, Ind, assignor to Stanray Corporation, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Filed July 2, 1968, Ser. No. 741,920 Int. Cl. B25b /00 US. Cl. 51236 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hydraulic lift for temporarily elevating a pair of worn wheels of a railway vehicle while cutting or milling elements of an associated machine are brought into operating position under the elevated wheels, to restore said wheels to roundness in a relatively short time without removing the wheel and axle assembly from the vehicle.

BACKGROUND-SUMMARYDRAWIN GS This invention is an improvement over the invention disclosed in Patent No. 2,727,343 of Dec. 20, 1955, illustrating a machine capable of performing the wheel lifting operation in the wheel turning machine. Said patent is owned by my assignee, who also owns Patent No. 2,622,378, dated Dec. 23, 1952, which is referred to in Patent 2,727,343 that discloses the arrangement of the complete wheel truing machine.

The wheel machine arrangement disclosed in prior Patent No. 2,727,343 includes a pair of screw jacks which are driven by a fluid motor acting through a speed reducer. The screw jacks can be operated to raise and lower drive rollers which are designed to contact the railroad car wheels that are to be operated on by the wheel truing machine. Such a lift system has served well for use within the machine but there are some disadvantages to this system. For example, the system is a relatively slow operating system and there are limits to the weight that can be lifted by the system. Also, this system combines a hydraulic and a mechanical arrangement which imposes problems of control and maintenance.

Having the above in mind, my invention is designed to provide a complete hydraulically operated system for the wheel lift which will reduce maintenance problems and be more efficient than the previously used system. Furthermore, my new system will provide more. power than was available in the previous system without the necessity of increasing the present source of hydraulic power now available in the machine. Finally, this new system is a faster acting system and permits a better utilization of the truing machine.

The invention disclosed herein is directed to hydraulic operating means for lifting and lowering car wheels within a wheel truing machine to and from a position where the machine elements within the machine can operate directly on the wheels. The arrangement includes two pivotally mounted hydraulic cylinders with associated pistons and shafts therein. The piston shafts are pivotally connected to a rotatable or oscillating frame which carries the supporting and driving wheels that are adapted to engage the car wheels. Hydraulic control means are provided whereby fluid can be admitted or released from the cylinders to selectively raise and lower the driving wheels to and from the car wheels. Separate power means are provided to turn the driving wheels for the machining operation.

The present invention will be more fully and readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings taken in conjunction with the following specification wherein like reference characteristics refer to like parts.

3,54@,lfi4 Patented Nov. 1'7, 1970 FIG. 1 is a plan view of a pit and railroad track assembly, with the wheel truing machine installed therein, partly broken away for convenience of illustration.

FIG. 2 is a section on the line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a section substantially on the line 3--3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

ous track across the pit. The rail members 3636 are longitudinally slidable between two positions, and are shown in the retracted position in FIG. 1 so as to leave a break in the continuous track to accommodate the wheel truing machine 30. In the other position the rail members 3636 close the opening and join rails 35 to rails 3737, thus providing a continuous track across the pit.

Transversely of this track and supported on the con crete walls 38' of the pit is a stationary central support that includes a pair of parallel side frame members 40 40, spaced end frame members 41-4lA, and an intermediate transverse frame member 42. The frame members 41 and 42 are bored to rotatably receive and support therebetween a shaft 43, upon which is pivotally mounted the entire C-frarne assembly which includes a central horizontally disposed portion 44 and upstanding arms 45-45, upon the upper portion of each of which is a centering mechanism 46. Each centering mechanism is constructed and arranged so that it can be raised or lowered vertically simultaneously, and the centers 47-47 of which may be moved in or out horizontally so as to be able to engage the axle centers of a vehicle truck, indicated in dotted lines at 48, FIG. 2.

Also mounted in each upstanding arm 45 is a rotary cutter tool which is more or less diagrammatically shown at 50-5tl, and which is movable up or down substantially vertically with the C-frame assembly so as to occur when desired under the wheels to be operated upon.

All of the above is shown and described in detail in the aforementioned Patent No. 2,622,378, dated Dec. 23, 1952, the details of which form no part of my present invention, except in combination with my improved wheel lift arrangement for such a wheel truing machine, which wheel lift will now be described.

Disposed transversely of the track assembly is provided a rotatable shaft 55, on each end of which is mounted a supporting and driving wheel 56. This shaft is journaled in a pair of spaced arms 57 forming part of an oscillating frame indiciated generally at 58, the lower ends of which arms are pivotally mounted Onaligned stub shafts 59, each journaled in spaced upstanding walls 60 of a fixed casting 61, anchored on top of a wall 38' forming part of the pit structure.

As seen in FIG. 1, the shaft 55 carries a gear 65, which is operatively connected through a gear train and gear reducer to a motor exactly as the same drive system which is described in detail in prior Patent No. 2,727,343. Therefore it is not felt necessary to show and describe this system in detail as it forms no part of my invention.

Attention is now directed to FIGS. 2 and 4 for a disclosure of the wheel lifting system of my invention. A bracket, generally indicated at 66, is of a general L-shape and is disposed transversely of the tracks in the machine. As can best be seen in FIG. 3, there are side arms 67 and 68 on this bracket which are rotatably journaled in stub shafts 69 and 70 on machine frame sections 71 and 72, respectively.

Mounted on the bracket 66 are two hydraulic operating means that are generally indicated at '73 and 74 and which lie adjacent the machine frame sections 71 and 72, respectively. Both operating means are identical in positioning, construction, and operation, and therefore only one unit will be described.

Looking first at FIGS. 3 and 4, the hydraulic operating means 73 includes a cylinder 75 with a piston 76 having a shaft 77. The lower end of the cylinder is carried in a base 78 with spaced ears 7'9 and 86 extending therefrom. A mounting bracket with a base 81 and a nose 82 is secured by means of bolts 83-83 to bracket 66. A pin 84 pivotally connects ears 79 and to nose 82. The other end of the cylinder has a head portion 85 to which a face plate 86 is bolted by bolts 87-87.

The piston shaft 77 extends through head portion 85 and face plate 86 and suitable gasket means, not shown, are provided about the shaft at these locations. The end of the shaft 77 is screwed into an end of a clevis 88 which extends around a lug 89 projecting out from the frame 58. The bifurcated ends of the clevis 88 and lug 89 are bored so as to receive the pin 90 which holds these parts pivotally united.

The hydraulic control means for these hydraulic operating means 73 and 74 is generally indicated at 91 in FIG. 3 and may be of well known construction permitting a supply of fluid to be sent to the hydraulic operating means or exhausted from said means. Obviously, such hydraulic control means are under the control of a human operator and the supply of fluid is provided by the main hydraulic unit of the wheel truing machine. Pipes 92 and 93 extend from the control means 91 and terminate at junctions, generally indicated at '94 and 95, respectively.

From the junction 94 rubber tubes 96 and 97 are connected to nipples, one of which is shown at 98, on the cylinder bases. From these nipples fluid passageways, not shown, extend to the interior of the cylinders. In a similar manner rubber tubes 99 and 100 are connected to the head portions, as for example the head portion 85 on cylinder '75, of the two hydraulic operating means. From these connections interior passageways, again not shown, lead to the interior of the respective cylinders.

Having the above description in mind and looking particularly at FIGS. 3 and 4, it can be observed first that the hydraulic operating means 73, as well as hydraulic operating means 74, are pivotally mounted between the arms 57 of the oscillating frame 58 and the bracket 66. Secondly, it can be seen that frame 58 and bracket 66 are mounted for rotation or oscillation on stub shafts 59-59 and 69-7 0, respectively. Now assume that fluid is admitted from the control means 91 through pipe 92 to junction 94 and tubes 96 and 97 to the lower ends of cylinders 73 and 74. This will force pistons 76 upwardly in their associated cylinders so that a force will be ex erted on the pins 90 and cause the frame 58 to be oscillated about its stub shafts 59-59. At the same time the bracket 66, which carries the hydraulic operating means, will be free to oscillate about its stub shafts 69 and 70. If fluid from the control means 91 is admitted to the tops of the cylinders through the tubing 99 and 100, the pistons 76 in their respective cylinders will of course be urged downwardly and there will be a reverse rotation of the frame 58 about its stub shafts 59-59.

For purposes of describing the operation of the machine, let it be assumed that the entire machine is lowered in the pit, and the sliding rails 36-36 are in closed position so as to form a continuous rail across the pit. The vehicle or vehicles having wheels to be trued are then brought on rails 32-32 from either direction and brought to rest with the wheels to be trued adjacent to the supporting and rotating wheels 56-56. The control means 91 is then actuated to send hydraulic fluid to the lower ends of the cylinders of the hydraulic operating means 73 and 74. As above described, this will cause the frame 58, which carries the supporting and rotating wheels 56- 56, to oscillate or rotate on stub shafts 59-59. The sup porting and rotating rollers 56 thus move through an arc having a radius centering on axis of shafts 59. As is best seen in FIG. 2 when wheels 56 move in this are the periphery of said wheels rises above the plane of the tracks, and when the axes of the vehicle wheels, the rollers and the shafts 59 are in line, the rollers have reached their maximum elevation. When in this position the rollers have forced the vehicle wheels off the track, and the movable track sections 36 are then moved to their open position shown in FIG. 1 to provide an opening in the track assembly under the pair of wheels to be trued.

The wheels to be trued are then supported entirely by the supporting and rotating wheels 56-56 and the hydraulic control means 91 is again actuated to now send hydraulic fluid to the upper ends of the cylinders in the hydraulic operating means 73 and 74. This causes a downward movement of the pistons in the respective cylinders and a return movement of the frame 58 to a position where this frame 58 engages the fixed casting 61 as seen in FIG. 4. This then removes the load from the hydraulic operating means and the load is now transmitted to the fixed casting 61.

The truing machine is then raised and brought into operating position. The centering mechanisms 46-46 are then elevated until the center projections 47-47 are located at the level of the centers of the car axle, and then the center projections are moved laterally until they enter the center notches in the ends of the car axle, and the center mechanism is then set in this position. It will be noted that the driving rollers are to one side of a vertical plane through the axes of the axles of the wheels to be trued. The cutter tools 50-50 are now raised until they approach engagement with the tread of the car wheels to be trued. The drive system for the rollers 56-56 is then actuated so that these rollers slowly rotate the vehicle wheels.

The motors which drive the cutters 50-50 are then placed in operation and the cutters are then slowly raised causing said cutters to bite into the treads and flanges of the then rotating wheels in the machine. The cutters are then further raised until the desired depth of cut is accomplished. One complete revolution of the vehicle wheels after depth of cut has been accomplished is ordinarily sufficient to true a given pair of wheels, but if not, the cutters can again be adjusted and another cut made.

When the truing operation is thus completed the centers 47-47 are withdrawn laterally, the wheel truing machine lowered vertically, the fluid control means 61 again actuated to cause the supporting wheels 56-56 to again elevate the wheels which have been trued, the sliding rails are then moved to closed position forming a continuous track across the pit, the supporting rollers continue on their arcuate movement until the vehicle wheels are lowered on the track, and the drive rollers positioned therebelow, when the vehicle may then be moved off the pit.

Although the embodiment constructed in accordance with the present invention has been described with the requisite particularity, the disclosure is of course exemplary. Changes in details of construction, in size, configuration and arrangement of components and materials, and in modes of application will be apparent to those versed in the art and may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a device for truing wheels of a railway car while the wheels are mounted on said car and on longitudinally disposed spaced track rails, a fixed frame, an oscillating frame having spaced parallel arms pivoted at their lower ends to said fixed frame for oscillating movement in relation therewith, a supporting and driving wheel mounted on each arm in axial alignment and movable with the oscillating frame into engagement with the periphery of the wheels to be trued, and for raising said car wheels olf the track, a second oscillating frame, hydraulic operating means pivotally carried by said second oscillating frame and operatively connected with said first mentioned oscillating frame to oscillate the same, and power means for rotating the supporting and driving wheels.

2. In a device for truing wheels of a railway car while said wheels are mounted on said car and on longitudinally disposed track rails, a fixed frame disposed below the rails and transversely thereof, an oscillating frame pivotally mounted on said fixed frame, supporting and driving wheels mounted on said oscillating frame and movable through an arc in the path of the periphery of the Wheels to be trued for engaging and raising said wheels to be trued off the track, an oscillating bracket pivotally mounted on said fixed frame, hydraulic operating means pivotally mounted at their base ends to said bracket, each of said means including a cylinder and piston with a piston shaft protruding upwardly toward said oscillating frame, each shaft being pivotally connected to said oscillating frame to cause said frame to oscillate when hydraulic fluid is selectively delivered to or exhausted from the cylinder in each of said hydraulic operating means, and power means for rotating the supporting and driving wheels.

3. The device in claim 2 wherein the arrangement for delivering an exhausting hydraulic fluid from said cylinders includes a hydraulic control means designed to receiver hydraulic fluid from a source of hydraulic power.

HAROLD D. WHITEHEAD, Primary Examiner 

